How To Teach a Photography for Kids Camp

If you're reading this guide, you are probably considering teaching kids photography. While a kids photography camp is a bit more involved than a basic photography for kids class, it’s a great way to really get involved with your community and to get to know other businesses in your area.

This guide will take a look at some things you need to consider when you teach a kids photography camp.

Decide on a Location for Your Kids Photography Class

Choosing the right location for your Kids Photography camp is the first step. Here are a few locations you may want to consider:

• Community Hall or Recreation Center: Every city or neighborhood has some type of community hall or recreation center that can be used to teach classes at a minimal cost. If you don’t know of a hall, there is also the option of finding out about any community colleges as they generally also offer classes during the summer months.
• Co-Op Space/Studio: Many co-op work spaces and photography studios are the ideal location for small workshops and classes. Turn to platforms such as Facebook to identify co-op spaces in your area. Keep in mind that most studios will need you to have liability insurance before you can hire the space.
• Local Schools: Local schools often have summer programs. Chances are you will be able to find a school that will let you use one of their classrooms for a minimal fee.
• If you can find a location that has easy access to a park or an open outdoor area that is safe for kids to go out and take photos, even better.

Price Your Photography Class

Now that you’ve decided on the location, you’re going to have to determine how to price your photography classes  so that you can start promoting your kids photography camp.

This is what you should keep in mind when setting your class prices:

• Since you are hosting a camp, you have the option of charging a higher price because a camp is usually of a higher perceived value than a "class". Especially since you will be with the kids for several hours each day. Many kids camps charge up to $300 per child. Check various camps in your area to get an idea what the average camp cost is. This should give you a good range of what parents in the area are paying for other camp programs.
• When setting your prices, remember to take all costs such as rental fees, your time, supplies and any printed material into consideration to make it worth your while.

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 Choose a Photography Curriculum

What do you want to teach? You will need to decide on a curriculum before you start promoting your camp so that you know how many lessons you will be included in your course and how to structure your days.

Break your lessons up into specific topics. For example, if you want to teach children the basics of photography you could break your lessons up into topics such as exposure, composition and camera settings to name a few.

It also helps to decide on the length of each section so that you can prepare the material accordingly. Remember to keep in mind that most children will not be arriving with an expensive DSLR camera, with many only having a smartphone so prepare your curriculum accordingly.

To see a list of our pre-made curriculum bundles for teaching click here. We even have one specifically for a kids photography camp. It will save you hours of work!

Structure Your Kids Photography Camp

Here is how I recommend splitting up the lessons. The first option below is to feature one lesson each week for 8 weeks.

• Wk 1/Lesson 1: History of Photography
• Wk 2/Lesson 2: Photography Gear
• Wk 3/Lesson 3: ISO
• Wk 4/Lesson 4: Shutter Speed
• Wk 5/Lesson 5: Aperture
• Wk 6/Lesson 6: Camera Settings (White Balance & Basic Settings)
• Wk 7/Lesson 7: Creative Composition
• Wk 8/Lesson 8: Types of Photographers

If you want to double up on the lessons you could condense it into a 4 week kids photo camp, or a 4 day camp which would meet 4 consecutive days. Or you could have a 2-day camp intensive and teach lessons 1-4 on day one and lessons 5-8 on day two. You could schedule it 2 Saturdays in a row or 2 consecutive weekend days. It's entirely up to you!

Finding Students for Your Kids Photography Camp

Now that you have your camp content ready, you will need to start promoting your classes and bringing in students. Below are some tips: 

• Local Businesses: Ask local businesses in the area that are kid and family friendly if you can place some flyers in their shop. Think libraries, frozen yogurt shops, kids clothing boutiques, or any places where moms visit frequently. You can find some pre-made posters and signs by clicking here.
• Clients: Send out an email announcement about your classes, perhaps even offering a small discount since they are already clients.
• Social Media: Identify community or school groups on social media and reach out to parents there. Local homeschool groups and mom groups are a great place to start. Promote the camp on your own social media and consider gamification by having people enter to win a scholarship for one lucky camper. You can give a special offer to all who entered bu didn't win. You may even want to put your entry boxes at local businesses if they allow or network with other local business and make your camp scholarship part of a larger giveaway.

Additional Resources for Teaching Photography to Kids:

• Curriculum for Teaching a Kids Photography Camp
• Curriculum for Teaching Photography to Kids
• Teach an Online Kids Photography Class